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Connecticut shooting sparks questions about balance in school safety

By Jordan Steffen The Denver Post

Posted:
12/16/2012 12:01:00 AM MST

Updated:
12/16/2012 01:17:16 PM MST

Elana Kahn, 4, and her mom, Amber, joined the University Park United Methodist Church in a candlelight vigil Saturday as they gathered to pray and to memorialize those involved in the Connecticut school shooting. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Visitors to most Colorado schools must present photo identification before they can enter the building. Sometimes, they are screened before the doors are even unlocked.

Schools practice lockdown and evacuation drills. They have strengthened relationships with law enforcement. Exterior doors are locked.

These are some of the security measures that schools have imposed in the years that followed the April 20, 1999, shooting at Columbine High School.

And until Friday, their efforts seemed like enough.

Adam Lanza forced his way past locked doors and a new intercom system at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., where he shot and killed 20 children and six adults before committing suicide.

His rampage has reignited debates and sparked questions about how to balance a welcoming learning environment with one that is secure.

"If anything, it has to make for heightened awareness that we're all vulnerable," said Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis. "The question so many people asked after Columbine, 'What are you going to do as a school?' I said, 'What are we going to do as a society?' "

For most school districts in Colorado, school security is a constant conversation with ever-evolving practices.

Cindy Stevenson, superintendent for the Jefferson County School District, which includes Columbine High School, said the success of any security measure depends on how vigilant the staff and community are about following those practices.

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"I don't think there is any one measure you can impose that says, 'That's how you solve everything,' " Stevenson said. "It's not one thing over the other. It's putting everything you can into making a difference."

Following the Columbine shooting that left 12 students, one teacher and the two gunmen dead, districtwide safety measures were implemented to help restrict access to school buildings. In most of the district's schools, all but one set of doors are locked during the day.

Visitors must enter through a designated set of doors and are then expected to check in at the front office. Staff go through continuous safety training and are taught to stop and question anyone seen walking around schools without identification.

Lockdown and evacuation drills have become as familiar to students as fire drills.

Those methods — and a strong relationship with law enforcement — were crucial during a shooting at Deer Creek Middle School on Feb. 23, 2010, Stevenson said. Evacuation procedures and police response were close to textbook, after staff subdued the gunman in front of the school.

The two students who were wounded in the shooting made a full recovery.

In the years that followed the shooting at Columbine, a task force examined the possibility of installing metal detectors in Jefferson County schools.

"They are not a fail-safe, and they create all kinds of issues," Stevenson said. "Generally, the recommendations say that metal detectors are not what you need."

While some security requirements are implemented districtwide, emergency-response plans are often designed to best fit individual schools.

Those plans are based on factors such as the student population, building designs and the school's grade level, said Michael Eaton, Denver Public Schools' chief of safety and security.

Historically, middle and high schools have required more security resources, compared with elementary schools.

The 15 DPS school-resource officers spend most of their time at high schools, Eaton said. High schools typically have higher incident rates and a more mobile student body, as students move on and off campus for lunch and other activities.

"It creates a challenge," Eaton said. "Our security practices have to be conducive to the environment we are protecting."

Some Denver schools use a buzzer or intercom systems, which allow the staff to view and monitor visitors before they enter the building.

Sandy Hook Elementary principal Dawn Hochsprung had recently implemented a similar system at the school, The Hartford Courant reported. In a letter sent to parents, Hochsprung asked them to be patient with the new system but stressed the importance of the system.

Officials said Hochsprung died in an attempt to subdue Lanza, after he forced his way into the school.

While there were significant improvements in school security after Columbine, the intensity and urgency that immediately followed the shooting has waned nationwide and some practices have stalled, said Kenneth Trump, president of Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services.

Trump warned that after the shooting in Connecticut, there will be calls for extreme and even questionable security measures in schools. The same thing happened after Columbine and other school shootings.

"Following the shooting in Connecticut, we do not need to throw out the playbook of best practices for school safety," Trump said. "What we need to do is to focus on those fundamentals."

One of those fundamentals is funding, he said.

Like other school districts across Colorado, Weld County School District 6 has imposed several safety improvements, such as background checks for volunteers and check-in systems for visitors districtwide, spokeswoman Theresa Myers said.

While student safety is always a top priority, the district is forced to consider the financial burden that comes with improving some of the district's security technology, such as adding more security cameras.

"Our schools are very, very safe, and security is one of our top priorities," Myers said. "We are one of the lowest-funded districts in the state. We need to weigh the cost benefits all of the time."

Staff writer Kevin Simpson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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